Koskei was the taller and, for a while, looked the stronger but McCann, the bulldog from Bulli, found something special to win by two metres after the lead had changed six times.

It was the same courage she displayed a year later when she was diagnosed with breast cancer two months before she was due to give birth to her third child.

By May 2008 the cancer had spread to her liver and claimed her on December 8, 2008, as she lay at home surrounded by her family.

Mark Knight's cartoon from 2008 shows Kerryn McCann entering a heavenly arena after her tragic death from cancer.Source: HeraldSun

***

India beats Australia, Chennai, 2001By Robert Craddock

IT was, without question, the most celebrated three not out in the history of Indian cricket.

When feisty spinner Harbhajan Singh cracked a fearless punch behind point off Glenn McGrath and took off like Brer Rabbit for the series-clinching runs against Australia at Chennai in 2001, all of India went with him.

The roar of the 30,000 fans at the ground was so loud that you felt your eardrums were going to explode like a piece of popcorn on a griller.

I was filing copy back to Australia at the time but it was no easy task.

Steve Waugh’s mighty Australians, who had won 16 Tests in a row before they lost the second Test of the series, unthinkably lost the third as India wobbled to a victory target of 155 with eight wickets down.

It was branded the greatest Test series of all time and the mayhem was such that the Indian bus to the airport was blocked for about 15 minutes after the game because boisterous fans would not let it move.

The game went mad that day, but sometimes madness can be a beautiful thing.

***

Adam Scott wins the 2013 US MastersBy Mark Hayes

With due deference to the disbelief generated by Hawthorn's storming finale in Round 6, 1989 - to win from nine goals down against Geelong which still managed 25 goals - my greatest crowd experiences have happened in parts further flung than Princes Park.

It would be remiss of me not to mention the Vancouver Canucks going down 3-1 in a 1994 NHL playoff series against Calgary only to win games five and six in overtime, then game seven - featuring arguably the club's greatest ever save and goal - in triple overtime. The appeal of being part a one-team town in those epic moments - when sport is that city's religion - is palpable.

But for prolonged nerves, and the full gamut of emotions evoked, I can't go past Adam Scott finally breaking Australia's Masters duck this year.

I'd been at Augusta National in 2011 as both Scott and Jason Day came within minutes of ending the pain only to be overrun by a withering Charl Schwartzel finish.

So to see the same pair and Marc Leishman all look winners - and then losers - on the back nine was nearly too much, with the blood pressure near boiling point.

But while patriotism in the crowd wasn't the same issue as it was for me, the drama had the "patrons'' whipped into a frenzy.

I admit to shedding a tear as Scott rolled in his birdie putt on the final hole of regulation to seemingly wrap it up with a mighty roar of "Come on, Aussie''.

His roar seemed to trigger an understanding among the gallery of exactly how much it meant - and even as the light faded and the rain became drenching, nobody budged an inch as history beckoned.

Then, with the crowd in disbelief at the steely display of wills, Angel Cabrera answered in the group behind with one of the great approach shots ever seen on the famous closing hole.

It was more than golf. The fans knew they were witnessing a heavyweight title fight and when the big Argentine nearly pinched it with a chip-in on the first extra hole, another wave of emotion crashed over them.

But drenched through, they soldiered up the 10th fairway for more - some hoping for an end to the hours of mental torture, some doubtless hoping it would roll on.

They groaned mightily as Cabrera's putt slid past the cup, then roared as Scott curled one in to finally end hours of tumult.

It's one thing to hear the roar of a loungeroom around a TV, but the noise that hovers in those towering Georgian pines is another altogether.

And for sheer history and drama, there are few more appreciative crowds than at golf's Mecca ... and that image of Scott singing in the rain with arms outstretched in his new green jacket will live with me forever.

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